My passion for life

A real Tuscan treat

What usually stops me from drinking Tuscan wines is the fact that even though there are lots of good wines in this region, there is also lots of rubbish… What people need to understand is that, it is not that because a wine or product is from a particular place it therefore always is wonderful… as it isn’t!! What makes a wine or product good is the care of a farmer, craftsman or viticulturist of course in combination with good soil, weather, etc… Luckily there are still craftsmen or winemakers left who want to make a good product or in the case of Tuscany winemakers wanting to make a ‘real Tuscany wine’ as Matteo Cantoni from Fattoria Fibbiano calls it.

I probably already mentioned it in previous posts, but more than ever cooks and winemakers are thinking as the French call it ‘terroir’. Meaning that they try to use local and even primitive products as much as possible to make their end product. At some point I’m glad it is turning this way as I’m of the opinion that when you for example go on holiday to Thailand, Spain or where ever, that you can eat, drink and try the local things instead of stuff from other countries (as good as they may be). So I’m a fan of this “new” wind.

That is what Matteo Cantoni meant with making ‘ real Tuscan wine’ as at Fattoria Fibbiano they only use authentic from origin Tuscany grapes. Instead of using Merlot or Carbernet grapes they use Sangiovese, Canaiolo , Colombana, Colorino and Malvasia from vines that are over 100 years old and playing with them to make some very nice combinations. What you should maybe also know is that Matteo together with his family (Brother, Parents, …) only took over the vineyard of Fattoria Fibbiano 20 years ago. Fattoria Fibbiano itself had already been used as vineyard over 100years 🙂 For people only doing this for such a short period of time they have done a really good job in bringing back the real Tuscany!! Fattoria Fibbiano is a rather small vineyard, they annually only produce 120.000 bottles of wines (all types together). So you can imagine getting hold of a bottle isn’t always as easy, but not an impossible mission.

When talking to Matteo Cantoni, he stressed out that his purpose of making wine is making drinkable wine… meaning the wine can drunk immediately with exception of their ‘Ceppatella’ (that can be compared with a good Brunello di Montalcino) that is at its in a few years and can be left in your cellar for easily 15 years (but if wanted it can already be drunk now, but best to first decant that it gets some air). Matteo said his Ceppatella from 2005 is now perfect to drink.

Sofia: a rosé wine (yes rosé from Tuscany) made from 100% Sangiovese grape. Something I think is almost unseen in Tuscany wine making. As they always want to keep the Sangiovese for making strong red wine. A wine that gives rosé another dimension.

Fonte delle Donne: a white wine made with a combination of 50% Vermentino grapes and 50% Colombana. Resulting in a floral smelling wine with a rich taste to it 🙂

Le Pianette : probably the most special grape combination as they use 70% Sangiovese and 30%Colorino that back in the days got used for coloring the wine (because of the thick skin of the grape) and giving it a good smell… I couldn’t tell what the smell was, but it had a sharp and typical sangiovese aroma and taste.

L’Aspetto : a red wine and I think the star of the evening as price-quality this is a very good wine. It was a more complex wine than the previous one with a delicate wooden smell to it (very subtle smell) . About the taste, I know I’ll be cliche, but I tasted strawberries 🙂 and as I like that taste, I liked the wine… it is as simple as that 😉

If you also feel like tasting or want to know where to buy the Fattoria Fibianno wines, please contact Rik de Jonghe who imports wines of Fattoria Fibianno on following email address: rik.de.jonghe@skynet.be

OR you can go to Tuscany (Fly to Pisa) and stay in Fattoria Fibbiano’s Agriturismo (a bit like a B&B) and give the wine that little bit extra aka la dolce vita Toscana ( oooooooh yeah)